Earlier this week it was revealed that an upcoming PlayStation 4 software update, version 4.5, will be bringing an important improvement to the PlayStation 4 Pro. This improvement is Boost Mode, a setting that will improve the performance of games on the PS4 Pro that haven't been updated to support the console's more powerful hardware.

Digital Foundry have gotten their hands on a beta version of this update, and have put the PS4 Pro's Boost Mode through its paces. Their testing revealed frame rate increases anywhere from 14 percent up to 38 percent, depending on the title. These gains allow the PS4 Pro to deliver a smoother and more responsive gaming experience.

You won't see frame rate improvements in every game, as some titles have hard-coded frame rate caps. Destiny, for example, runs at 30 FPS regardless of whether the Boost Mode is enabled.

The most common performance improvement is a gain of 14 percent, which matches the increase in the PS4 Pro's GPU clock speed from 800 to 911 MHz. Boost Mode doesn't give games access to the PS4 Pro's additional GPU compute units, so in GPU-limited titles, a 14-percent boost is roughly what you'll achieve (provided the game's frame rate isn't capped).

In other titles that are more memory bandwidth and CPU bound, frame rate gains up to 38 percent were experienced. In Project Cars, Digital Foundry noticed gains of 35 to 38 percent in the most demanding tests. Notoriously choppy game Assassin's Creed Unity actually reached 30 FPS with Boost Mode enabled, rather than a horrendous 22 to 24 FPS.

For games with a 60 FPS frame rate cap, Boost Mode mostly allows these titles to hit the cap more consistently. Digital Foundry noted more consistent performance in titles such as Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, Battlefield 4's 64-player multiplayer mode, and BioShock Infinite.

PS4 software version 4.5 with its Boost Mode will roll out to owners of the PS4 Pro in the coming weeks.